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USTFCCCA announces cross country regional honors

WALNUT CREEK, Calif. -- The United State Track & Field and Cross Country Coaches (USTFCCCA) announced its region award winners this week. OREGON’s Edward Cheserk was tabbed the West Region Men’s Athlete of the Year, while three coaches - STANFORD’s Chris Miltenberg, COLORADO’s Mark Wetmore and ARIZONA’s James Li received top regional nods.

Freshman Edward Cheserek (Newark, N.J.) is having a strong debut campaign, winning the NCAA West Region title last week with a time 29:34.33, leading the Ducks to a runner-up team finish and an automatic NCAA bid. Cheserek won the regional crown after becoming the first-ever freshman Duck to win the Pac-12 crown.

In his second year at the Stanford helm, Chris Miltenberg earns West Region Men’s Coach of the Year honors after leading the Cardinal to the NCAA West Region title over higher-ranked Pac-12 rival Oregon, 53-64. Stanford was the only team at the meet with three top-10 individual finishers, led by runner-up Jim Rosa and third-place Erik Olson. He also guided the men’s squad to a second-place finish at the Pac-12 Championships.

Mark Wetmore, in his 19th season as head coach of the Colorado cross country program, led the Buffaloes women to a dominant win at NCAA Mountain Region title, tallying just 29 points, en route to earning the Mountain Region Women’s Coaches of the Year. Individual runner-up Shalaya Kipp led four CU runners in the top six and all seven of Wetmore’s runners crossed the line among the top 15 finishers. At the Pac-12 Championships, the Buffs were within six points of Pac-12 Champion Arizona, and finished second in the team competition.

Now in his 12th season, Arizona’s James Li is the West Region Women’s Coach of the Year after guiding the Wildcat women to the program’s first-ever Pac-12 title, first-ever No. 1 national rank since USTFCCCA records began in 1995 and a team title in the West Region, one of the deepest regions in the nation. Li and the Wildcats also notched significant team victories at the Wisconsin adidas Invitational and the Pac-12 Championships.

In addition to the honors announced above, the USTFCCCA recently released its all-region teams. The Pac-12 had 16 male runners make the all-region squad, while 25 women from league teams also earned spots on the team. The 25 all-region women’s honorees ties for the fourth-most for any conference in the country.

Several Pac-12 teams and individuals will be competing at the NCAA Championships this Saturday, Nov. 23 in Terre Haute, Ind. The men’s race will begin at noon ET, followed by the women’s race at 1:15 p.m. ET. A live streaming of the event will be available on the NCAA’s website at ncaa.com.